Here is another one of my favorite families that I have been photographing for quite a while! I started with their engagement portraits, then their wedding and now through four children! The time has flown by because it feels like I just did their wedding! Jillian informed me that this baby is their last one (but who knows they make adorable children) so this might be my last newborn session with them! What a cute little monkey to welcome into this world! Here’s to many more years of fun, cute family photos!

This month I got to meet a very strong lady named Roksolana who has traveled to Colorado all the way from the Ukraine to battle cancer. She signed up with a foundation that I am donating my services through called the Magic Hour Foundation which provides free photography for those who are or have battled cancer and would like to have some wonderful photos done of themselves with or without family. This is my first shoot with them and I had a great experience. Until cancer is eradicated I hope that I can bring a little joy into the lives of the people battling this horrible disease. To view the blog post on Magic Hour’s website go here: https://magichour.org/roksolana-colorado/

So my family and I took a trip down to Gunnison, Colorado this weekend to see a good friend of ours graduate from college! It was a great excuse to get out of town, see some friends, and try out our new pop-up camper! Since we work from home one of the fun things we like to do is to get out and enjoy nature on our days off and this gave us the perfect opportunity before our crazy busy Summer season! It was great seeing Scotty “Big Guns” finally get his diploma! I won’t mention his age, but he took the long route to getting it and we’re so happy for him and the opportunities this will bring for his family! Way to go Scott!

Also this became somewhat of a working vacation for me as well as the Myhr’s next door neighbors The Anderson’s took advantage of the Mother’s Day special I was running and had me do portraits of their family along with their newborn baby! Super adorable baby and awesome family… who also helped us in the search for our dog that got lost the day of graduation as well! Long story made short Guinness decided that he needed to check out the neighborhood, but luckily game back and was sitting on the back porch of the Myhr’s home the next morning before we had to leave! Whew! So enjoy some of my favorite images from their session below! And congrats to both families!

If you are planning your wedding to take place where shelter is not readily available the most sensible idea is to plan for the worst by renting a large tent where both your ceremony and / or reception can be held. Even with great weather a tent provides shade for you and your guests and protection against wind and other elements.

2.) Consider Wedding Insurance and Keep a Phone Number of a Restoration Clean-Up Crew Handy

An event like a wedding can get quite expensive and while emergency situations don’t happen often they do happen! A few years back when the Platte River overflowed it’s banks here in Colorado quite a few wedding venues in the vicinity of the river lost their structures and or access to their venues by bridges washing out and more. Lots of couples ended up rushing to find new locations to hold their event since many guests had already bought and paid for their plane tickets to attend. Event insurance would alleviate the stress of coming up with money for new deposits on locations, because not all venues are quick to refund money in a timely manner. I also attended a wedding once where the entire facility flooded due to a quick and large rain storm. The groom had just happened to work for a restoration company and called his boss to have them come and clean up the hall so the party could continue. They had the whole facility cleaned up and back up and running for dinner and dancing in under an hour! Wow! While I know not everyone might have the same sort of pull with a restoration company, keeping a number of one near your venue close just might come in handy.

3.) Contingency Plan Information

If you have a back-up indoor location planned for if the weather is bad, it’s important for guests to have that information in advance. Including that information with the invitation is a great idea especially if the location is not on site to your original wedding location. If the venue doesn’t have an indoor location for a ceremony ask them for suggestions for places to use as a back-up plan nearby. Some ideas are non-denominational churches, clubs like Elks, VFW, or even a hotel with a nice lobby area. Paying a small fee to reserve a back-up location might be worth it even if you don’t end up using it.

4.) Write Out a Delayed Timeline of Events

Be sure to schedule enough time for each event planned that there is a little wiggle room for delays. Colorado is notorious for quick rain storms that blow over in a short amount of time. Write out a delayed time-line that maybe skips some reception events that are not overly important to you so that you can have a little extra time if a ceremony has to start 30 minutes late due to a rain storm. Give this timeline to someone in charge of helping so you can relax on your big day.

5.) Make Your Make-Up Rain Proof

Use waterproof mascara which will not only help keep your face looking fresh in bad weather, but in case you get a little teary eyed! Ask your make-up artist and hair stylist if they are flexible and can stay for touch-ups even if it’s just for some quick touch-ups right after the ceremony before you do your formal photos. I know most couples only allow for a short amount of time to do photos between the ceremony and reception so ask the make-up artist to stay and apply touch-ups where you are doing the photographs at rather than have you go all the way back to the “getting ready” room. It may not seem like a lot of time, but doing this can save 20-30 minutes of time.

6.) Scout Out Some Locations to Do Photographs If it Rains

Overhangs with decorative elements, Indoor staircases and more all work great for spots to take photographs if the weather isn’t cooperating. Be a little flexible with your photography timing as well. If for instance it starts to downpour right after you say “I do” and everyone goes rushing into the reception hall take a moment to go greet your guests while you wait for the rain to subside and then venture out to do your photos when the clouds have passed and maybe opt to do all the family group photos indoors so grandma doesn’t freeze!

Umbrellas make for cute props in wedding photos along with colorful rain boots. Some rental companies might even rent a lot of them for all of your guests. Ushers can be in charge of handing them out if dark clouds are looming. Have the men in your wedding party be gentlemen and let the ladies wear their suit jackets (also makes for a cute photo). If you are concerned about your dress getting dirty bring a white sheet or white plastic bag that can be tucked under the dress after it is fluffed out for photographs. Also include a tide pen in your bridal emergency kit to get out mud stains (I had to use this at my own wedding!) If your wedding is more of a “do it yourself” type of event make sure you bring a pile of towels to wipe down chairs if one of those quick rainstorms passes through and assign someone to help coordinate helpers to do that should you need it.

8.) Smile and Don’t Despair!

Cloudy skies make for really even lighting for photography. Guests don’t have to squint in photos and dramatic clouds, rainbows and more can add a depth to your wedding photos you wouldn’t otherwise have had. If you are flexible there will almost always be a time when the rain stops long enough to get some amazing photographs! And hey, they say it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding day!!

Another lovely small wedding held at Stonebrook Manor that I photographed for another photographer. This early Spring event was moved indoors last minute due to the colder weather, but we still had an opportunity to take some beautiful photos outdoors utilizing some of the decorative features of the venue. Great couple who were fun to work with… I felt pretty creative this day even though we ended up doing a lot of photographs indoors.

This was a new fundraising event for us this year. Maple Grove Elementary PTA hosted a “Prom” themed dance and auction to raise some money for their school at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden, CO. I loved how into the theme the guests were! Some of them even wearing their own Prom gowns from 20 years ago! It made for some fun throwback pics with the balloon arch they set up for us! What a great theme! And what a fun way to raise some dinero for some well deserving children! I hope we get asked back to cover this event again next year!

Attention to detail is what separates Beyond BodyWork from other massage clinics. Their staff works to tailor each massage session to the individual needs of the client. While they are all very skilled in a wide variety of massages, each therapist has their own niche. Theresa specializes in deep tissue work. She is very skilled at helping folks with chronic pain and stiffness issues. Courtney is skilled in reflexology, the art of using gentle pressure on the feet to create changes in other parts of the body. Rob works on both the muscles and the connective tissue to really get to the heart of the matter. In addition to massage, Beyond BodyWork also offers infrared sauna sessions to take the chill off of those cold winter days, essential oils and even counseling.

Check out the photos that we took of their office and staff a couple months ago to update their website! And of course go to their site to find out more about them! – https://www.beyondbodyworkco.com/

Just finished up on going through the orders from our yearly preschool shoot at the All Precious Children Preschool in Arvada. As of this year I’ve been photographing this preschool for ten years! A decade of smiling children’s faces. My own son attends the preschool now as well and we love it! A small school with really amazing teachers. Just another reason I really love Spring!

Since our old Blog is still up I thought I would share a link to it in case anyone cares to look back in the old archives at anything. This blog dates from 2005 – til around 2012 or so… right up to when I had my first child! And then I took a little hiatus from blogging until I started up my new website and blog that you are now visiting! I was still working, but just couldn’t seem to find the time to blog! But I’m back! Trying to document all of the work we do to share with you amazing people! So if you want to see how far we’ve come in the past 12 years on the web check it out –

Not everyone knows we offer coverage of other types of events… And one of my favorite times of year is Spring! When we do photography and my husband’s DJ company, Digital DJ does Father & Daughter Dances! Nothing is cuter than a little girl all dressed up and dancing with her dad! Most of the clubs that we’ve been doing this service for have used us for years. We provide a portrait of each dad and daughter or daughters (as it might be) with a background that goes along with their theme for the year and then some candid & detail photos of the dance party! The photos above are from The Club at Rolling Hills and this year’s theme was “The Oscars & Hollywood” The photos below are from the Boulder Country Club and their theme this year was Princesses with each table having it’s very own princess theme… Super cute! Can’t wait to do it again next year!